Physical and digital game sales up at Sega Sammy

Sega Sammy is the latest game company to release its financials for the nine months ended December 31, and both sales and profits are on the up.

Looking at the firm's consolidated results, company-wide sales rose by 16.6 percent to 285.7 billion yen ($2.54 billion) year-over-year, while profits increased by 462.1 percent to 36.5 billion yen ($324.9 million) across the same period. 

The company's Entertainment's Contents Business, which houses its video game operations, saw sales increase by 14 percent year-over-year to 155.4 billion yen ($1.38 billion). 

Rising video game sales were partly responsible for that upturn, with digital games pulling in 35 billion yen ($311.6 million) over the past nine months, an increase of 6 percent. 

Packaged games, on the other hand, raked in 37.9 billion yen ($337.4 million) during the same period -- a year-over-year rise of 29 percent.  

On the console and PC front, Sega said Phantasy Star Online 2 continued to perform "favorably," while the launch of mainstay titles such as Football Manager 2017 and Ryu ga Gotoku helped drive physical sales. 

Over on smartphones, sales remained "robust" thanks to the efforts of major games including Hortensia Saga, Puyopuyo!! Quest, and Chain Chronicle 3. 

Echoing sentiments expressed in its last financial report, Sega said it expects both digital and physical games to continue performing well thanks to the penetration of current gen hardware and the positive impact of the PC market in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. 

As announced on November 2, Sega still expects sales in its Entertainment Contents wing to total 205 billion yen ($1.83 billion) by the end of this fiscal year on March 31.